Chapter 260: Layers of Lies (Patreon)

I stared at the man wearing Dark Plate, who looked at me with an equally cautious stance.

For once, I completely understood what Erani had always talked about regarding me looking like I was straight out of a monster manual. The darkness emanating from the man’s helmet hid his face from my view, the way his voice echoed out of the steel plate sounding inhuman, leading to the only hint that the man was a person at all being his general stature and proportions.

And even that part of him was manipulated by the armor. Spikes tipped his fingers, subtly elongating them so that they just barely looked wrong, thick plating covered his shoulders, reminding me of the over-muscled body of an Infernal, and his helmet showed a fiendish expression that did no favors toward putting me at ease.

“Excuse me,” he said.

The man I was arguing with snapped his head in the direction of this other person, looking between me and him. “B-brought in reinforcements, huh? Too scared to fight me on your own?”

“This person is not one of us,” responded the man who I could only assume was an actual iron titan.

He scoffed. “Like the hells he isn’t. He’s wearing your damned armor.”

“Which is exactly why I would like to speak with him.”

“Yeah, I’d honestly like to have a word with you guys, too,” I said, looking him up and down.

Index, why do they have access to Ethereal Armor? I know some Classes share Spells with each other, but I’ve never heard of anyone else having that one.

“That’s because they don’t have Ethereal Armor.”

What? Isn’t he wearing—

“It is Dark Plate, exactly as you know it. But they’re not using Ethereal Armor to summon it. I can’t tell you what they’re doing, but I certainly can give you a timely reminder that sometimes several different Spells have the ability to summon the same object under different conditions and with different auxiliary effects.”

So they were using a different Spell from Ethereal Armor to summon Dark Plate. That meant there was a chance whatever Spell they were using wouldn’t also be able to summon Light Plate. If theirs could could summon both, that would mean any hope of separating my identity as Arlan and my identity as Annor would be dashed. They’d instantly figure out we were both the same person.

Can you shed any insight on whether or not that’s the case?

There was a beat of silence where Index was clearly trying to figure out how to word whatever it wanted to say, but eventually it just said, “No, I don’t think I can. You might need to try and get that information, yourself.”

The bald guy, now standing beside me and the iron titan and looking completely bewildered—a complete departure from his previous aggressive stance. “W-which of you is an iron titan?”

The actual iron titan instantly lunged at him, holding out a flail that I only just realized he had, and held it out, ready to strike. The spiked steel ball dangled threateningly in the air. “What did you just call me?”

“Uh, sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean—”

It happened faster than I could see. In an instant, the man had been pummeled into the ground, hit so hard downward that he was half-buried in the ground at my feet. As sand sprayed upward into my face, I saw the iron titan return from his strike into a neutral pose, flail swaying back and forth as the man groaned in pain.

“You’re lucky you get to keep your life. I’m too busy to finish you off,” the iron titan said. Then he looked back at me. “Now, who are you? And who did you take that armor from?”

I glanced down at the guy who looked to be on the brink of death, then back up at his assaulter. Right, so I was a little afraid of this iron titan guy. I still had two remaining uses of Time Loop, so my life wasn’t truly in danger, but I wasn’t about to let myself get any closer to my life being in danger for the rest of the day.

“I didn’t take it from anyone,” I said.

He stared at me, clearly waiting for me to say more, but I kept my mouth shut. Eventually, the low voice echoed from his helmet once again. “You’re coming with me.”

He reached out to grab my hand, but I jerked it away before he got his grip on me. “I think I’d actually like to stay right here in the public area with all the witnesses, thanks.”

Silently, he glanced over at the still unmoving man lying in the ground, and then at the crowds of people around us who were all very conveniently averting their eyes and wandering away like they’d seen no crime committed here.

“...Right,” I said. “Guess the witnesses don’t do much, huh? Besides, I wouldn’t want them around if things got messy. You might have some protection for when you beat a man half to death in the middle of a group of fifty people, but unfortunately, when I slaughter you, I won’t have the same luxury.”

He drew back the flail. “Think carefully about your next words, boy.”

“Nah, relax, I’m just messing around,” I said with the wave of a hand. “Go ahead and lead the way, I’ll follow you.”

Sure enough, with what seemed like it was every drop of self-restraint in his body, he lowered his weapon and started marching off toward the city walls. “If you delay for even a second, you are dead.”

I nodded and followed. As much as I did enjoy exploiting my time powers to be overconfident, that wasn’t one of those moments. It was a bet. From the way that guy was acting, he seemed extremely confused that I was wearing a suit of Dark Plate. He even asked who I’d taken the suit from, as if it was impossible for me to get the Spell to make one on my own.

I didn’t know for sure, but it seemed like I was quite the anomaly to these people, and they weren’t going to rest without getting some answers. But now, considering how pissed that guy got when some rando called him an ‘iron titan,’ which I presumed was just a derogatory nickname and that was all, in any normal circumstance I’d assume me threatening his life like that would instantly lead to him attacking. But he didn’t, because he needed me alive and talking.

Also, when faced with an opportunity to make myself seem even more dangerous, mysterious, and overall like fucking with me would be a big mistake, I was going to take it.

I took a moment to focus as I walked, taking the effort to reach across the long distance through my connection with Ainash and send her a message. “Hey, tell mother that I met some weird guy who comes from some group called the ‘iron titans.’ Maybe. It’s probably a slang term, I have no idea what they’re officially called. Either way, they also have access to Dark Plate somehow, so when this guy saw me walking around in it, he got curious, showed off some pretty extreme power that I’m not too keen on randomly defying, and is now leading me back to the city.”

There was a moment of silence where I assumed she was relaying all of that back to Erani. Then, after a moment, I got a message back. “Mother says ‘what?’ But says it in very panicked way.”

“Right, yeah, sorry to drop this on you all at once. I’m gonna try to slip away from them after getting some answers, or, worst-case, see if I can kill the guy when I get him alone. Right now, we’re headed toward the southern entrance to the city. I’ll keep you updated on my location as we walk.”

“Okay! We are running very fast now! Also, other good guy Human is asking what I mean when I say ‘iron titan.’ Think I am saying it wrong. Say it again?”

For a moment, I was distracted by the ‘other good guy’ Ainash mentioned, but then I realized she was talking about Sylvie. We just called Erani and I ‘mother’ and ‘father,’ so I forgot that it was actually a complete pain in the ass to say real names through the bond. And speaking of that communication barrier, seemed like something similar was happening with her mistranslating ‘iron titan.’ I repeated it back to her, hoping she’d figure it out.

“Oh!” she responded after a moment. “Other Human is running even faster now! Going even faster than mother. Might see you soon!”

Well shit, seemed like Sylvie knew who these guys were. If she was getting serious, that either meant something good or very, very bad. Or maybe she was just excited to see a fight go down between me and some random strong dude. Okay, so I actually didn’t get as much information from that than I thought I would. Still, I kept my eye out for her dashing through the sand dunes, or something.

“Hurry up,” the guy in Dark Plate growled, and I quickened my pace. I hadn’t realized I’d slowed down while communicating.

“Mind if I get your name?” I asked as I walked alongside him. “Feels weird being escorted to what is about a fifty percent chance to be an ambush by a dude who I can only refer to as ‘that guy wearing my armor.’”

He stared at me for a moment. “You’re Koinkarian, aren’t you?”

“Oh, are we guessing nationalities? I’m gonna guess you’re…don’t tell me…from the Barinruth Empire.”

“You have an accent,” he said plainly, not seeming all that bothered by my antics. Part of it was just for fun, but I was also trying to get him a little upset in an attempt to loosen his lips. But right now, his mind seemed to be running at a thousand paces a minute, trying to figure out what my deal was. Acting unpredictable probably helped keep his impression of me unstable, too.

“So what’s up with your family?” I asked. “Do you all wear the armor? Or is it just the especially pissy ones that do? Is it for the protection it provides, or just because it looks cool? Oh, or just for the light absorption thing it does, to stay hidden in the dark and stuff?”

I could almost hear the gears turning. “We wear it for its protective properties. I assume you also took a suit because you like surviving hits thrown at you?”

Ah, he was trying to trap me into accidentally admitting I’d taken a suit—seemed like that was his leading theory on how I got one. Weird, since Ethereal Armor didn’t let other people use the armor I summoned. But I’d gotten him to admit something, too. He didn’t realize just how little I currently knew, including whether this ‘iron titans’ group was made up of family members, or something else. Seemed like it was family members, unless he was deliberately misdirecting me, and now I got to know that without revealing that I had no idea in the first place.

“I bet that guy you almost killed back there would’ve liked to survive the hit thrown at him, too,” I said, channeling my inner Sylvie. She always seemed to have a knack of getting the info she wanted by being as obnoxious as possible. “What was he so mad at you guys for, anyway? Which of his family members did you kill?”

Before he could reply and let me know how my impersonation of her was going, a voice came from beside us, interrupting our conversation in a very familiar way.

“Excuse me,” the voice went, and I looked over to see another familiar suit of armor. Not Dark Plate, but the armor worn by the woman who I’d died with in the previous timeline—who I’d evidently convinced out of fighting the Sand Hive, if she was here with us, now.

Ah, good, she’s here to save me from being sort-of-kidnapped. She seems pretty knowledgeable, she probably knows these guys are bad news. Alright, lady, let’s team up and kick some ass!

But before I could do or say anything, and before she could get out one more word, the iron titan before me immediately sank down to one knee, bowing his head as she looked at him like this was no big deal.

“Lady Magdalene Peersguard,” he said in a much less threatening and much more begging-for-his-life tone. “W-what can I do for you today, on this fine morning?”

AN: I forgot to mention when it came out a few days ago, but book 2 of Minute Mage has released on Amazon! It's out for Kindle Unlimited, Audible, and paperback, so feel free to pick up a copy! Also, please leave a rating or a review, even if you don't decide to buy a copy on Amazon. It's free to do, only takes a few seconds, and supports the launch a ton. Thank you all for being wonderful readers!